Bearing for water-meters.



PATENTED JUNE 1l, 1907.

E. E. (RAMON.V BEARING FOR WATER METERS.

APPLICATION HLEDLSEPT. 12, 190e.

, To all whom t may concern:

UNrrEn 'srArEs PATENT OFFICE.-

ERNEST E. GAMON, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NEPTUNEMETER COMPANY, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW. YORK, A CORPORATION OFNEW'JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1907.

Be it known thatI, ERNEST E. GAMON, a

I citizenrof the United States, residing at Long 'Island City, in thecoimty of Queens and State of New York, have invented certain new and lter to which my invention is applied, the propellers are in constantrotation, the friction between the parts is ordinarily so great thatsuch parts rapidly wear and thus the accuracy of the meter isconsiderably impaired. I have found that with the use of a bearing suchas hereinafter described, the parts are practically indestructible andwill last for years without attention or repair. g

In carrying out my invention, I make use of the structure illustrated inthe accompanying' drawings, in which f Figure 1 is a sectional view of acurrent meter of the preferred type, and Fig. 2 is anv elevation of thebearings, partly in section.

Similar letters of reference refer to like parts throughput. y l

flhe meter t'o which my invention is peculiarly adapted is what is knownin the art as a current or velocityv meter, in other words, withthismeter, thevolume of water' passing therethrough is inferentiallyascertained by recording the number of revolutions of a reaction wheelor propeller which is properly arranged to be revolved by flow' ingwater at afspeed proportional to the velocity of the flow.

The metercase A is of thegeneral sha e and c ontour illustrated in Fig.1, being su stantially-cylmdrlcal in horizontal cross-section andprovided with the intake B which communicates with the interior Cofthecase. Diametrically opposite to the intake B is the out flow Dseparated from the interior of the case by the walls E which projectinto the interior of case and are fully inclosed so as to completelyseparate the chamber C Application fled September 12, 1906. sea-1 NO-334,232..

from the out-iiow D as illustrated. The u per and lower diaphragme Eofthe walls are provided with the apertures for the reception of theoperating parts of the meter. Fitting into said vapertures is the proeller case F which consists of the upper and ower rings F connected bythe skeleton barsA F2'. Mounted upon the upper and lower ends of themember F are the strainers e of grid form` provided with the spiders fat their ends for supporting the bearings g, the lower bearing andstrainer being shown in cross-section. These spiders f have integrallyconnected to them the sleeve bearings h both top and bt- .Y tom, 'withinwhich are the hard rubber bushglhe essential features of the meter Aabove referred to are the vertical position of the axis or shaft o andthe mounting-thereon of two pro ellers b, the said propeillers havinghelical bilades c formed on their edges, one a right hand spiral and theother aileft hand spiral, which cause the stream of water flowing infrom the intake B through the strainers e to divide and flow throughboth the pro-- pellers b in equal volume and at equal ve` ocities. l

The vpropellers IJ are accurately molded from hard rubber and havehollow water tight chambers, their proportions being such that thespecific gravity of the propellers b added to that of the phosphorbronze shaft a upon which they are mounted is but y slightly greaterthan that of water with the result that when they are'immersed in waterthey-sink but slowly; in consequence of this, together with the factthat 'no dynamic thrust either one way or the other is roduced upon thespindle by movement ofP the water, it will be apparent that as the pivothas practically no weight to sustain, the wear would ap ear to be almostnil; however, in practice,

ings commonly used under such conditions,

the wear is so great as to quickly render the meter inaccurate inresults.

'The phosphor bronze propeller shaft re- 'it 1s found that with theordinary ball bear- IOO volves in long hard rubber bushings i, but as amatter of fact, these bushings perform only the nominal duty ofmaintaining the propellers concentric with their casing, as thepropellers are accurately balanced to revent centrifugal or sidewisethrust g and t e outthe following construction.

ward flow, after passing the propellers being from center tocircumference, has practically no dctrusive effect upon the shaft a.

ln order to reduce such wear as -really does take place between theshaft c and its per end ofthe bearing support o is a spherical cavity qin which is secured r an agate ball, theball being held in position byspinning the margin of the cavity q down upon the upper portion of thisball 7' leaving a portion of the allexposed as shown in the drawings.

"Any non-oxidizing hard substance as glass,

- Z upon t e agate ball r.

' quartz, or hard metal silicate, will answer as Well underordinarycircumstances, but for the best results, I refer to use agatefor one of the bearings. he bearings as shown being always immersed inwater and the water having access thereto through the apperture s in thesleeve 7L, it is found that no lubrication is necessary; in fact theWater ii self forms a erfect lubricant for the hard rubber stood in thisconnection that the parts may be reversed i. e., the agate surface maybeflat and the hard rubber may be' spherical.

I find that such a structure com osed of hardy rubber 'Working upon theagate all r makes a practically indestructible and` frictionless caring,so much so, as to require practically no attention Whatever and onewhich Will i last for years.

The gear train, common-to such structures, is carried by the cap G andis located in the cavity G being connected tothe bifurcated up er end UXof the shaft a'.

t Will thusbe seen that the bearing, when in ppsition is admirablyadapted to the struct should be under-` ture of a current meter as abovedescribed and illustrated` in"` the drawings. The bearing is capable ofuse in many other relations, however, and l do not limit its use towater meters Aof the type shown;

l claim: i i A1. ln a-bearing member for water meters, the combinationof a cylindrical block having alsoherical socket in its end, and anagate ball fitted into said socket and iixedly heldin. position thereinby the spun margin of the socket overlapping the upper surface of saidball.

2. A bearing for Water meters comprising a shaft having a cylindricalsocket in its end,

a hard rubber block fitted into said socket and aiixed agate ballagainst nich said. hard rubber block bears.

3. A bearing for water meters comprising a shaft having a hard rubberbearingsurface at its end, and a fixedblock of agatehaving a spherical.surface against which said rubber bearing surface rests.

4. 'A bearing for water meters and the like, com rising a vertical shaftor spindle having a cy indrical socket in its lower end, a cylindricalblock of hard rubber secured in said socket leavin an exposed endbearing sur; face, and a Xed agate bearing having a spherical surfaceupon Which said rubber rests.

5.- In a bearing, the combination of a vertical shaft having a flatrubber bearing at its end, with a spherical bearing surface upon whichsaid rubber bearing rests. A 6. In a bearingl of the type s ecified, thecombination of a block of hard ru ber having a fiat bearing surface, anda hard non-exi dizable substance having a spherical bearing surfaceagainst which said flat rubber surface rests. y

This specification signed and witnessed this 7th day of Sept. 1906.

ERNEST E. GAMON.

Witnesses:

C. E. WENZEL, FREDK. C. FISCHER.

